Renee Graziano: My Father & I Don't Speak Because I Did 'Mob Wives'!

How do Cosa Nostra members feel about their daughters and wives participating in VH1’s new hit show, Mob Wives? For star Renee Graziano — the fact that she let a TV crew film her life didn’t settle too well with her father Anthony Graziano, onetime consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, who’s behind bars at a federal penitentiary.

“He has no reaction because we don’t speak, not now, not after I made the decision to do the show,” Renee tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “He said to me, ‘You made your bed. Now sleep in it.’ My father doesn’t agree with anyone putting their life on [TV].”

For Renee, going on the show wasn’t about her father — or the fact that he didn’t approve of her choice.

“I think I needed to develop my own identity outside of my family life — out of the lifestyle,” Renee explains to us. “I was also pretty tired of people judging me upon a lifestyle — not realizing that I’m a woman, I’m a mom, I go through hardships. No sympathy — that’s not something that I want from anyone. It was my way of really planting my feet and making a change in my life.”

For the rest of Renee’s friends and family — “My family supports me,” says Renee. And, “more than three-quarters of the people are supporting me fully. For the most part, friends … they are very proud of me.”